


god-given solace

by deluxemycroft



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Captain America Sam Wilson, F/M, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:02:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22932223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deluxemycroft/pseuds/deluxemycroft
Summary: Steve offered Bucky a choice. Bucky doesn't hesitate to make it.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson, Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Comments: 5
Kudos: 83





	god-given solace

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by this tweet: https://twitter.com/ChloeImagine/status/1221555156329926657 which made me tear up so i wrote 700 words in about 5 minutes about it lol
> 
> not beta'd, just edited by me

Afterwards, after Steve is gone and Bucky is alone again, Sam joins him on the bench. Bucky gives him a small smile and they both look out over the lake together.

“Shield suits you,” Bucky tells him quietly.

Sam lets out a dry chuckle, shifts a bit uncomfortably. Steve had left and Sam had stood there for awhile by the water, just growing used to the weight, and Bucky had watched and thought about how he’d always be tied to that shield, always be following whoever held it. He’s glad it’s Sam. Wouldn’t choose anyone else. “Thanks.” He pauses and Bucky can feel him looking at him. He wants to hide behind his hair but doesn’t let himself. “It can be yours, if you want it.”

It’s his turn to laugh. “I don’t want it,” he replies, chancing a glance at Sam out of the corner of his eye. Sam relaxes at that. “It’s yours. You’ve always been more Cap than I have anyway.” He has too much red in his ledger. Hell, he’s still a wanted criminal in how many countries at this point? How many people has he killed? With all the blood on his hands...

Sam’s voice breaks him out of his thoughts. “Been meanin’ to ask. Why didn’t you go to the past with Steve? I know you knew what he was going to do.”

“He told me last night,” Bucky tells him. He gives Sam a small smile and Sam smiles back. Bucky wonders if Sam knows how beautiful he is. “I didn’t have a reason to leave, but I had a reason to stay.”

Sam blinks a few times and then he smiles. “Yeah?”

He thinks about Sam, thinks about the man who didn’t know him and still fought for him, thinks about how Sam has maybe not always trusted him, but has always believed in him. He thinks about Sam not moving his seat up in that shitty little car and thinks about Sam at the airport and thinks about Sam staying in Wakanda with him when he didn’t know him at all. He thinks about all the nightmares he’s had and waking up to see Sam sitting next to his bed in the dark, not wanting him to wake up alone. He thinks about those words in his head and how there was always _noise_ and how it only quieted around Sam.

He thinks about choices and how he wasn’t allowed to make any for so long and now he’s grabbing this one with both hands and not letting go.

He thinks about those long, lonely months in Russia after the Helicarriers went down, thinks about all the work he did to just get by, just put food on the table, and he thinks about the few times he dared to go online and how he would find articles of Steve on the run from the law because of _him_ and always, always, _always,_ Sam would be right there alongside him. He thinks about loyalty and how he’s never earned it but by God he wants it, and how Sam stood next to him at Tony’s funeral and put a hand on his shoulder and how when Steve had asked him to come with him, Bucky had told him no.

He thinks about being a kid and listening to the radio with Steve and always being so fucking _cold_. He thinks about how Sam keeps him warm, how he’s always there, how if given a choice, Bucky knows he wouldn’t leave. He hasn’t yet, and Bucky knows he won’t.

He thinks about charging down Thanos’ armies _twice_ and always knowing that Sam would have his back. He thinks about being no more than a weapon and Sam telling him he could be more, and he thinks about wanting to be better because Sam believes he could be.

Bucky smiles to himself as he looks out over the water. He looks down as Sam reaches out and presses his fingers to Bucky’s metal palm, and Bucky slides their fingers together, holds on tight. He thinks about Steve always bein’ gone for Peggy and sometimes he would wonder what that was like. Steve never could’ve chosen anything else and Bucky doesn’t think he could either. Steve had offered him a choice and Bucky hadn’t hesitated to make it. “Yeah,” he whispers, and Sam smiles at him, and by God, he’s the most beautiful thing Bucky’s ever seen.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!
> 
> follow me:  
> tumblr: @deluxemycroft  
> twitter: @whenhedied


End file.
